Recreational activities and outdoor activities are popular pass times in contemporary life. Golfing, boating, camping, and other sports-related activities are examples of popular recreational activities. Golfing, to take one example, is a very significant economic factor in American recreation. A Dec. 22, 2002 Report from SRI International, titled Golf Economy Report, states that “The U.S. golf economy is significant, accounting for $62.2 billion worth of goods and services in the year 2000.”
In pursuing the game of golf, golfers typically carry a set of the various clubs required to play the game in a bag into which the club handles are inserted after inverting the club to cause the heads to extend out of the open end of the bag. When the bags are carried from place to place, the heads are repeatedly struck and battered. This also occurs when clubs are removed and inserted into the bag. “Sock” types of golf club covers have been constructed particularly for protecting the woods. These socks generally have an elastic neck on them to hold them in place over the wood when it is in the bag. They are readily and easily removed from the woods. In some cases, a draw string type of fastener is employed to secure the cover over the head and to prevent it from being accidentally dislodged.
It is much more difficult to provide a cover which is quickly installed and quickly removed from the heads of irons and putters. A protective cover for putters, in particular, is desirable since these are the shortest clubs in the bag and are repeatedly struck and battered. In addition, some golf putters have heads made of brass or other readily scratched or dented and scuffed material, so that protection is highly desirable. Putters in particular may have inserts in their faces which it would be desired to protect from banging and damage.
Due to the shape of irons and putters, however, it has been difficult to provide a cover which could be quickly and conveniently held in place and readily removed. For example, irons have a front or toe portion which is relatively larger than the rear or heel portion, and are connected to the shaft at the heel portion end. Consequently, if an access opening is sized large enough to receive the toe portion of the club, the cover fits so loosely about the shaft of the club, that the cover frequently is inadvertently removed from the head of the iron or putter in which it is used.
There also exists an ongoing need to improve the design of golf club covers and putter covers in particular. The putter is the one club that is almost always used on every hole. Thus the cover for that club is repeatedly taken off and put on during a round of golf. It would be desirable to provide a protective cover for golf clubs, particularly for irons and putters of all types, which provides the desired protection, which stays in place, and which is easy and quick to put on and to remove.
Hence there has been identified a need to provide an improved golf club cover. It would be desired to provide a type of cover that could be used with a variety of club head configurations. It would further be desired to provide a golf club cover that, while providing a strong and robust degree of protection to the golf club, may nevertheless be quickly and easily placed and removed from the golf club. It is further desired that a golf club cover be designed and configured so that it will stay in place, over the golf club head, during normal transportation and storage of the golf clubs. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs.